Some seniors’ organizations familiar with the New Brunswick charity that asked Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau to reimburse a $20,000 speaking fee say it’s “sad” that the Grace Foundation got dragged into a political melee over the issue. They say the foundation isn’t political but rather supports an important nursing home in the community.

“I would say the Conservatives are wanting to have something else to talk about besides Mike Duffy and his cohorts in the Senate, and this is like a little red herring across the trail,” said Linda Nickerson, executive director of the Seniors’ Resource Centre in Saint John, N.B. “The whole thing is kind of sad.”

The Grace Foundation shot onto the national scene this week after the Prime Minister’s Office circulated a letter the charity’s board had written asking Trudeau to reimburse it because the 2012 event at which he spoke resulted in “huge disappointment and financial loss.”

The foundation was originally established under the name the Church Home Charitable Foundation in 1979 to help support the residents of The Church of St. John and St. Stephen Home, an 80-bed nursing home that has provided services in the community for years.

“It’s a very good home,” said Nickerson. “It’s well run. It’s one of the best in the city, as far as I’m concerned.”

And such service is needed in the community, said Charlene Thompson, director of Saint John City Market Seniors service.

“We’re looking at a huge shift in our senior demographic coming up in the next 20 years, and already having begun,” she said. “There will have to be Church of St. John and St. Stephen Home and homes like them to provide care for people who don’t have any other options.”

Reflecting a new focus and its connection to nearby Grace Presbyterian Church, the foundation changed its name several years ago and began aggressively fundraising to help cover expenses not paid by the New Brunswick government.

Trudeau’s speech in June 2012 was part of that rebranding exercise, and was intended to raise both money and the foundation’s profile.

Those interviewed were of the opinion that the foundation’s board is at least partly to blame for the trouble it has found itself in by deciding to book such a high-profile speaker – with a commensurately high fee.

“I was surprised initially to come to understand that there was a local non-profit who had the means to employ someone at that calibre to do what they were attempting to achieve,” Thompson said. “I was surprised.” (The board has reported a $21,000 loss on the event.)

There is also debate over whether the board should have asked for the money back, or whether Trudeau or any politician should have accepted the money or charged so much in the first place.

“To my mind, perhaps (politicians) should charge a fee that would be covering their expenses and maybe a little bit more,” said Nickerson. “But $20,000 seems like an awful lot.”

But they don’t believe the board’s request for reimbursement was politically motivated in any way. Rather, they believe the political controversy was the Conservatives’ doing.

“Let’s face it,” said Thompson. “If it was somebody other than Trudeau, it probably wouldn’t have received the attention that it did. There’s an opportunity, and some (Conservative) marketing or media-type probably said, ‘Look, this is a good opportunity to use to help make us look better.’ ”

The Grace Foundation board released a statement Thursday saying it did not authorize anyone to go to the Conservatives or any other “political person,” and it never wanted the matter “to become a political topic of discussion on the floor of the House of Commons.”

Local Conservative MP Rob Moore has said he was approached by Grace Foundation board member Judith Baxter, who has ties to the federal Conservatives, but the Grace Foundation’s statement suggests she may have been acting alone.

Repeated attempts to contact Baxter as well as members of the Grace Foundation board were unsuccessful.

Moore also did not respond to interview requests, though his office did release a statement Friday saying he was happy Trudeau and the foundation were working to find a solution.

Trudeau’s office has confirmed it was in contact with the Grace Foundation this week, but that the charity’s board of directors had not said whether it still wanted the $20,000 speaking fee reimbursed, or whether some other arrangement might be reached.

There is an expectation that despite the political controversy that has erupted around the Grace Foundation, the organization and the nursing home it supports will not be tainted or otherwise hurt — and it may even benefit.

“Any publicity is good publicity,” Nickerson said. “I think it just might work to their advantage. I’m hoping so.”